First they came for the free-range chickens, and I did not speak out…
Stateside, the Climate Change™ hysteria might appear to have crested sometime in the Biden era, now on the downswing.
However, it’s still going strong — particularly across the pond, where the esteemed British Royal Society has determined that the “organic free-range system [of egg-farming] had the highest global warming potential” of all rearing methods.
Related: Obama Ran Disinformation Campaign to Cover for Fauci Beagle Torture Program, Diary Reveals
Via The Guardian (emphasis added):
Organic eggs are twice as bad for the climate as eggs from chickens living in cages, research suggests…
This is because organic free-range models need more chickens for the same number of eggs produced, as birds living in cages tend to be more efficient.
Organic free-range production also scored worst in its potential for water eutrophication, acidification and land use. Chicken mortality was also highest in organic free range farming*, the researchers said…
The researchers estimated that 1,439,000 tCO2e is emitted under the current regime, in which egg production is split between caged, barn-housed, free-range non-organic and free-range organic systems.
Related: UK Mandates Backyard Chicken Registration To Fight Bird Flu
*I find the claim dubious, to say the least, that chicken mortality is higher in animals allowed to graze freely compared to ones packed into tiny, cramped cages their entire lives alongside other chickens and fed GMO corn and soy. The only plausible explanation for that figure would likely be massive antibiotic use (and other medications) to keep them alive. In any case, they’re certainly not going to be healthier — for the chickens or the consumer. (Soy- and corn-fed chickens in industrial farms have a significantly higher omega-6:3 ratio.)
You’ll be shocked to learn that, in order to remedy the harm that free-grazing chickens wreak on the climate, the proposed solution in the “conclusions” portion of the Royal Society paper is that “future changes in per capita egg consumption may also need to be considered, particularly in countries over-consuming eggs.”
Related: Grocery Chains Ration Eggs After Mass Chicken Slaughter For Bird Flu
Via Royal Society Open Science (emphasis added):
Among husbandry systems, the furnished cage system tended to exhibit the lowest environmental impacts per unit of product across all categories, followed by the battery cage system, which offers more limited space and, although no longer permitted in the EU, remains in use globally…
The organic free-range system had the highest global warming potential, eutrophication potential and land occupation compared with all other husbandry systems…
Consequently, any substitution away from cages is likely to increase emissions. Our cage-based scenarios, therefore, offer valuable insights into the potential environmental consequences of transitioning from cage-dominated systems to alternative husbandry approaches…
Overall, a transition away from the cage-based husbandry systems is likely to come with higher environmental impacts and considerable consequences for animal welfare…
Our findings indicate that future animal welfare policy should also account for the environmental impacts of production…
Moreover, future changes in per capita egg consumption may also need to be considered, particularly in countries over-consuming eggs.
Via RNZ Digital (emphasis added):
While the threat of bird flu still hangs over the egg industry, the Egg Producers Federation says it’s likely free-range chickens will be going in and out of lockdown in the coming months.
Hundreds of thousands of hens have been in lockdown as the third case of bird flu was confirmed in a wild bird in Aotearoa*.
But Egg Producers Federation chairperson and Mainland Poultry chief executive John McKay told RNZ’s Checkpoint they would let half a million of their hens back outside on Wednesday...
McKay warned it might be something Aotearoa had to get used to in free-range farming.
*"Aotearoa” is the Māori term for New Zealand, which the de facto state media there have adopted of late for purposes of Social Justice™.
